Savills Investment Management has acquired a supermarket portfolio comprising four strategically located properties in Portugal for its European food retail strategy. The purchase price was around €39m. With this purchase, equity commitments for the strategy grow to a volume of €470m – with properties in the Netherlands, Ireland, Denmark, the UK, Germany and now Portugal.
The four established supermarkets in Portugal are located in Gulpilhares, Olhao, Castelo Branco and Nazare. The total rental space of 21,600m² is fully leased on a long-term basis to Continente, Portugal's leading food retailer, majority owned by Sonae Group. All properties are expected to be BREEAM "Good" certified – certification processes are already underway.
Ian Jones, Director of Investment at Savills Investment Management, said: “With our strong European investment platform, we were able to secure four further attractive properties for the European food retail strategy – even in the current extremely challenging market environment. The crisis-resistant food retail sector, for which physical stores will remain of central importance in the future, continues to represent an attractive investment product for institutional investors.”
Fernando Ramírez de Haro, Managing Director of Savills Investment Management for Spain and Portugal, added: “The essential retail and food sectors are very resilient and have strong fundamentals that enable their owners to better navigate economic turbulence in uncertain times. The four newly acquired assets fit very well with our strategy and will deliver value to our investors: they are leased on a long-term basis to the market leader and their earnings track record is very promising.”
